Santa Rosa barber's mind-blowing cuts make him world famous

These days, the fickle finger of world fame can land almost anywhere, including Santa Rosa's West Coast Cuts barber shop where working a corner chair, we find a new iteration in the form of Jose Tapia. (KGO-TV)

@Jaytee_TheBarber, as his follicle-crazed fans call him, is world famous, not by proclamation, but acclamation.

In a world that seems smaller and more interconnected -- what is world fame anyway? Does going viral qualify?

These days, the fickle finger of world fame can land almost anywhere, including Santa Rosa's West Coast Cuts barber shop where working a corner chair, we find a new iteration in the form of Jose Tapia.

"The way I look at it, everyone who sits in my chair is a canvas," he told ABC7 News sheepishly.

That was somewhat surprising because @Jaytee_TheBarber, as his follicle-crazed fans call him, is world famous, not by proclamation, but acclamation. The 23-year-old has 82,000 followers on Instagram, all buzzing because of the hair creations he buzzes.

"It's cool and humbling knowing that my work is known world-wide." JayTee said that with such humility that I expected his next line to be, "Just proud to be wearing a major league uniform."

JayTee The Barber first came to West Coast Cuts as a customer in seventh grade. Little did owner Jerry Herrera know, then, that a few years later the same kid would become a radical hair styling superstar.

What other artists do on paper, JayTee does on heads.

"It's a culture," said Herrera. "People are looking to be different, these days."

Now they have it -- elaborate designs ranging from portraits to rainstorms, to renditions of wild animals, to wild colors, or whatever a customer might conjure.

JayTee is so famous, now, that he has his own YouTube channel. He has earned nineteen Battle of the Barbers trophies, competing in front of thousands of people who watch them in free-flowing, cutting frenzies. In one of those events, JayTee did a cut using a chainsaw. "It's real nerve wracking. You don't know what you're up against."

Maybe his opponents don't know what they're up against.

If barbers had world rankings, "He would be among the top ten, in my opinion," said Herrera.

Generations of painters have had Michelangelo for inspiration. Now, in a new millennium and medium, we have @JayTee_TheBarber, with one small difference.

"How long does one of your haircuts last?" I asked.

"About a week," said the barber.

At $50 per special cut, that would equate to world-famous job security.